But Sean Quigley only had one thing on his mind as he hit the streets of Downtown Peoria.

“Getting the win was the most important thing,” the Lafayette, Colorado, resident said of crossing the finish line first in 18 minutes, 8.48 seconds — more than seven seconds ahead of runner-up Patrick Cheptoek.

“Sometimes if you want to run a fast time you have to do it on your own, and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice the victory to try and run fast,” said Quigley, who was tuning up for the upcoming U.S. Track and Field Championships. “I made the right decision.”

Cynthia Limo, running in only her second race in the United States, also made all the right moves in the highly regarded road race.

The 24-year old recently married Kenyan captured the women’s race in 20:00.75. She bettered runner-up Marion Cherop (22:08.33) by more than two minutes and finished ahead of all but 11 men.

Quigley, who runs for Boulder Track Club, was coming off a seventh-place showing in the Bolder Boulder 10-kilometer race on Memorial Day weekend where he was the top American finisher.

“I felt pretty comfortable throughout,” he said. “It went out kinda slow. I was hoping we could get as close to the nine-minute mark as possible at the two-mile mark, just to give me a chance at sub-18. But the pace was kinda lagging, so I knew if I wanted to put a serious assault on 18 minutes I really would have had to go out alone.”

Quigley decided to stay with Cheptoek and eventual third-place finisher Lex Williams of Normal for the first two-plus miles before separating from the pack shortly after the three-mile marker.

“I’m happy with my time,” Quigley said. “I’ve only done a few competitive four miles before and it’s my fastest by eight seconds. It’s good to get a PR and definitely to get the win.”

Cheptoek, a 24-year-old Uganda native, moved up one position from last year’s third-place finish.

“Coming into this race I had in mind winning,” said Cheptoek, who is currently working on his master’s degree at Western Kentucky. “The first mile was a little slow, but we kept improving the pace.”

Recent North Central graduate and Dunlap native Johnny Crain stayed with the lead group for the first two miles before finishing fourth in 18:35.55.

“It was a really cool experience,” said Crain, who opted to go after the prize money involved in the 4-mile rather than race for a third consecutive 15-kilometer title.

Page 2 of 2 - “I didn’t know what to expect,” added Crain, the Division III outdoor national champion in the 5,000 meters. “I just went out there and raced. The three guys in front of me are high-level athletes, so it was really cool just to be able to compete with them and see where I stack up.”

“Maybe not exactly the results I wanted, but it was fun to get out there and represent the Peoria community,” said Crain, who will be a graduate assistant coach at Oklahoma next fall. “There was a lot of people out there cheering for me.”

Limo, who has been training in Lansing, Michigan, has only been in the United States for 10 days and returns to Kenya in August. She won a 10K race in Grand Rapids last weekend and earlier in the year claimed the Madrid half marathon.

She set the pace early on the women’s side and was not challenged.

“It has been a fantastic day for me,” Limo said of her first 4-mile race. “I enjoyed the race and am proud to win it. It wasn’t easy. You have to fight, you have to push it, but that was a good time for me. It’s a good course and I wish to be one of the best ones next year.”

Cherop, a Kenya native who also is working on her master’s at Western Kentucky also improved over last year’s race.

“The weather was perfect and my time was better than last year,” said Cherop, who was fifth a year ago.

“I didn’t really go in with too high of expectations, just got in the race and raced since it’s been a while,” said Benson, who is living in Peoria and working for the YMCA. “I was happy with how it ended up.”

The Top 10 on the women’s side had an Illinois High School Association feel to it. Haley Miller, who helped Tremont to a second-place state trophy a month ago, was seventh. State medalist Ericka Hibser of Lewistown was eighth, former 1600 state champ Julie James of Gridley was ninth and Notre Dame senior-to-be Abby Ricca was 10th.

Stan Morris can be reached at 686-3214 or smorris@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @stanmorrispjs.